Into the Pensieve: Of Blood and Snow

“Bella!”

She was the first to hear her husband’s voice, a hundred yards away.

“He’s coming back,” she told the rest of them. Sure enough, Edward appeared at the mouth of the cave within seconds.

“Let’s go,” he told them, reaching his hand out.

“What happened to the wizards?” Bella asked. “And Jake? Where is he?”

Edward didn’t answer.

“What happened, Edward?” Bella demanded, she reached out a hand towards her husband but Renesmee beat her to it. Her hands clasped around her father’s wrist.

She screamed.

“Who are you?” the child shrieked. “What have you done to my Daddy?”

“With any luck, he’ll be alive,” said the man who wasn’t Edward. “And so would you be, if you come quietly.”

Now that they looked at him closely, they had no idea how they could have thought he was Edward. He was slenderer, and his hair was far shorter than Edward’s. He was also wearing a cloak, and he held a wand.

Carlisle and Esme quickly stood between the wizard and Bella. But Dave was quick. Glowing chains appeared and wrapped themselves tightly around the vampires’ wrists.

“Now, now,” Dave said, pointing his wand at the vampires. “You’re inside the cave, I’m not. You’re restrained, I’m not. A second flick of my wand and the whole ceiling collapses. I’m pretty sure you vampires can survive it, but can the child?”

The doctor and his wife hesitated.

“Now, come out of the cave, nice and slow,” Dave instructed. “And don’t do anything funny. I have back-up.”

Slowly, as though walking towards the guillotine, the vampires emerged from the cave.

“Where’s Daddy?” Renesmee asked, tears starting to brim her eyes. “Where is my Jake?”

Dave didn’t know what to say. Yes, they were to be arrested, but they weren’t exactly criminals. He just kept his wand raised and his mouth shut. It was really for the best if he didn’t talk to them unless it was to give instructions.

A shower of red sparks erupted on the night sky. Dave’s already fair face drained of color. Green was supposed to be Pryce’s signal that the arrest had been successfully made. Red meant something went wrong and that, quite possibly, Edward was on his way back, probably with Don’s corpse behind him.

“What is that, what does that mean?” Bella demanded, a concerned look on her face.

“It means these wizards are dead,” Edward said landing just outside the cave.

Dave slashed his wand, conjuring a dozen glowing chains out of nowhere. Fuelled by anger and a desire to save his family, Edward dodged them all. Before he could seize Dave by the throat however, a well-paced Reductor Curse sent the vampire crashing against the mountain side, leaving an arm behind.

Pryce and Junix both had their wands raised, both tips smoking. The combined force of their curse had managed to inflict damage on the vampire.

“Honestly,” Junix growled, “Can’t you stupid leeches get it into your thick, undead skulls! If you had only consented to have us register your child, none of this would be happening!”

“So stop resisting and come with us,” Pryce supplied. “If you do we’ll make sure that you’ll be allowed to make an appeal to the Wizengamot to have custody of your child even after all the chaos you caused.”

“NO!” Edward roared, rising from the rubble, his left arm missing.

“Be reasonable, Mr. Cullen,” Pryce pleaded. “Otherwise it will only cause more grief to your child.”

“Don’t give me that shit. We just want you to leave us alone. But if we register Renesmee, we’d have forfeited that right to privacy. We know you and your fucked up government will be watching us day in, day out.”

“For the sake of the safety of your family and the Muggles,” Junix cut in. “Please, Mr. Cullen. In the end, the child will still be registered. It will be up to you whether it will be as an orphan.”

Wolves were now appearing along the mountainside, surrounding them all. Renesmee looked up hopefully, searching for a familiar face.

“They’re all bewitched,” Edward said, dispelling his family’s look of hope. “Even Jacob’s under the wizard’s control now.”

He fell on his knees, blood-tears falling from his eyes. Bella rushed towards him, gathering him in his arms. Renesmee touched her warm hands on her father’s cold, pale cheeks.

“If we cooperate,” Bella said, “You promise to keep my family whole? No gets to leave anyone?”

“We promise we’ll do everything we can,” Dave said, finally lowering his wand.

“Fine.” Bella said, resentment in her voice. “But no chains. We’ll come quietly.”